News

Read about all the latest developments from the world of Volterra below. If you want to stay in touch with us sign up for our newsletter.

Paul jets off on a flying visit to Alibaba

Volterra Partner Paul Ormerod had a flying, two day visit to the Alibaba Business School in Hangzhou, China. Alibaba are the world’s number one e-commerce company in terms of turnover. This was a follow-up to the workshop held in the Alibaba board room last November. A range of issues related to understanding consumer behaviour in the networked world was discussed by the small number of invited participants. One of the sessions was held in a tea ceremony restaurant directly on the famous West Lake. Paul said ‘It made a nice change, I never even saw the lake last time, I had the impression that Hangzhou was just like Manchester but wetter’.

Paul’s Positive Linking – book of the month

Paul’s latest book Positive Linking, published last Summer to great acclaim, is soon due to be released as a paperback. It has already been announced as WH Smith’s Business Book of the month for June. In the book Paul shows us the limits of conventional economics and why it needs to embrace the power of networks – through the titular positive linking! Click on the image to find out more.

Bridget speaks at the North East Independent Economic Review Conference

The North East LEP, together with the government, have decided to commission a critical review of the North East economy with an aim of identifying opportunities and barriers to boosting employment and productivity. Volterra’s senior partner Bridget Rosewell was invited to sit on the panel for this review which is chaired by Lord Andrew Adonis and has Heidi Mottram, Lord Don Curry, Will Hutton and Jonathan Ruffer as fellow members. She presented at the review’s base conference in February and went on to lead a workshop on inward investment: how to ensure it is successful and trade promotion. A final report is due to be published on April 11th. Find out more about the review here.

Said in the news

Volterra associate Said Hirsh is a regular commentator on Middle Eastern economic and political affairs. Recent features include an article in the New York Times on Egypt’s economic reforms (read here), a piece by Bloomberg on the resignation of Tunisian prime minister Hamadi Jbeli (read here) and comments to gulfnews.com on the Middle Eastern Bonds (read here). He was also recently interviewed by CNBC on energy markets, and he provided comments to Bloomberg on Egypt’s current economic climate.

Paul in literary mood!

Volterra Partner Paul Ormerod has been active speaking at a batch of early Spring literary festivals about his book Positive Linking, the paperback version of which is due out in June. In Bath, his session competed with Sandi Toksvig and in Keswick with Melvyn Bragg. But each time, the session was fully booked, ‘it’s a good job they were small rooms’, says Paul. He also participated in the LSE’s Literary Festival, where the emphasis is of course on more hard line social science analysis, and spoke to an audience of well over 200 people.

Ellie’s latest project… and news of her return!

We are thrilled to announce the healthy arrival of Volterra’s associate partner Ellie Evans’ second baby girl: Florence Jennifer Evans. Ellie is a long standing member of the Volterra team who, for the last few years, has been based in the USA. She plans to make a permanent return to the UK and Volterra’s London offices after completing her maternity leave later this year.

Volterra works with the Greater London Authority to re-examine London’s Education Needs

Volterra were recently commissioned by the GLA to report on the skills that are currently required in London and those that will be required in the future. These were then compared to the education offering available in London by further education colleges, universities, and other private providers. As part of the project we spoke to key employers and a sample of education providers, carried out employment and skills forecasts for London, and provided the GLA with recommendations on how more Londoners, and in particular those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, could better access the London labour market. The findings were well received and were used as an impetus for a change in the capital’s educational offering.

Nick in the Financial Times

Volterra associate Nick Bosanquet has been very vocal in the Financial Times of late. In a recent article Aging Taxpayers owe the iPod Generation, Nick calls for tax reform to redress the balance between the ‘privileged’ ‘benefit rich’ old and the struggling young. FT subscribers can read the article in full here. Nick was also asked to be a member of the paper’s select group of policymakers, academics and commentators that take part in an annual survey in order to gauge views on some important questions for the economy for the coming year. Read Nick’s responses to their 2013 questions here.

Paul Ormerod: Linking the past and the future

Volterra Partner Paul Ormerod recently addressed the Trinity College, Cambridge Student Economics Society. A welcome guest was Professor Emeritus Robert Neild, himself a Fellow of Trinity who, at the very start of his distinguished career, actually met Keynes himself! Paul spoke on the topic ‘Networks: the Missing Link in Macroeconomics’. He argued that Keynes’ great work, the General Theory of Employment, can be formalised in the context of modern advances in network theory. Keynes’ key concept of ‘animal spirits’, the optimism/pessimism of companies, is perfectly suited to a network interpretation. The presentation he gave is available here.